Namibian Agriculture marketing and Trade policy launched

20 Nov 2013 17:40pm

RUNDU, 20 NOV (NAMPA) - The Namibian Agriculture Marketing and Trade policy, a roadmap for the marketing of Namibias agricultural products in the domestic and international market, was officially launched by here on Monday.
The marketing and trade policy aims to guide the agricultural sectors towards utilising the local and international markets fully so that the country can reap maximum benefits in order to achieve Vision 2030 objectives.
Launching the two documents, Agriculture, Water and Forestry Deputy Minister Lempy Lucas said the policy was designed to direct future work in the marketing and trading of agricultural products in response to the changing environment in which the agricultural sector operates.
The Deputy Minister noted that food shortages and global climatic change have a huge impact on the agricultural sector, adding that success in implementing the policy will be achieved only through proper cooperation between the various stakeholders.
Lucas said she is optimistic that the documents will contribute to agricultural development.
She called on all players in the agricultural sector to take advantage of the opportunities availed and support the ministrys initiatives that are aimed at developing the sector.
The international marketing of Namibias agriculture products is said to be relatively well developed with exports destined for markets such as the European Union (EU) markets doing well. However, the marketing of these products internally have not seen a similar growth.
The demand for horticulture produce is said to exceed local production by far, and it is estimated that local Namibian producers supply only 30 per cent of the demand while 70 per cent is imported mainly from South Africa.
(NAMPA)
OH/JK